Saturday, 24 October 2015

New Fabric Purchases

Do you wash your fabric before using it?I know a lot of people don’t, but I always
wash my fabric as soon as I buy it.

Yesterday I went fabric shopping with a friend, and bought
some beautiful fabric at Cutting Cloth in Fairfield.It is a gorgeous shop and I was only planning
to buy a few things, but I walked out with two bags of fabric, and a new
quilt idea percolating.

I have washed all my new purchases, and now they are waiting
in a giant mound to be ironed.

So this is what my personal sewing area looks like.I always have several projects on the go at
once.You can see on my design wall a
young girl’s quilt I am making for a family member as a Christmas present.

My ironing board really needs a new cover.It is so bad my husband commented on it
recently.I really would like a new
ironing board as this one is very old and on the small side.My iron is also very old, but I like a plain iron, and this one works perfectly.

I love maximum shrinkage when I'm finished stitching so I get lots of cozy crinkles. Using a Shout color catcher (or 2) takes away the chance of bleeding dye (which seems to be rare these days). I am careful with batiks and may add several catcher sheets in the final wash.

After doing a lot of testing I now soak all of my fabrics at least 12 hours. Some unstable dyes take several hours exposed to water for the dye to release. It will release eventually but I don't want that to be in the finished quilt. Some blues, especially turquoise batik, can take days of soaking for the fabric to stop bleeding.

About Me

Hi, I'm Desley from Addicted to Quilts, a long arm quilter who is passionate about what I do. I started my long arm business in 2003, and as my business name suggests, I am totally Addicted to Quilts. I love designing, piecing and quilting, and of course buying fabric. My quilting is not computerised - I only quilt freehand from the front of the machine.

Quilting Service

I hope you enjoy looking at my blog. If you have finished a quilt top and are looking for someone to quilt it, please send me an email or visit my website for details.I would love to help you turn your top into a finished quilt.